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President Biden Criticizes Republican Governors for Transporting Immigrants to Blue States; Some Republican Candidates Changing Positions for Midterm Elections after Winning Primaries; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Invites Journalists to View Uncovered Mass Graves in Ukrainian Territory Previously Occupied by Russian Forces; Line to See Queen's Casket is Nearly Five Miles, 14 Hours Long. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 16, 2022 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:00]

DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: Mentioned somewhere in some way that the incident actually happened under a Republican governor.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: That's so important that you walked us through all of those detail. Thank you for doing that.

DALE: Thank you.

KEILAR: NEW DAY continues right now.

Playing politics with human beings. Good morning to viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Brianna Keilar with John Berman. The migrant battle getting more heated. President Biden ripping several Republican governors for flying and bussing more migrants to liberal areas run by Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Instead of working with us on solutions, Republicans are playing politics with human beings, using them as props. What they're doing is simply wrong. It's un-American. It's reckless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This comes after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sent two planes of migrants to Martha's Vineyard of the coast of Massachusetts. Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the Arizona Governor Doug Ducey have been sending migrants to Washington D.C. Abbott sent them to New York and Chicago. It is still not clear why the Florida governor organized flights for migrants from Texas, but he made clear he doesn't want them in his state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS, (R) FLORIDA: We are not a sanctuary state. And it's better to be able to go to a sanctuary jurisdiction. And yes, we will help facilitate that transport for you to be able to go to greener pastures.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: There are some signs that migrants DeSantis to Martha's Vineyard may have been misled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: "When you got off the plane," I ask him, "What did you think of this place?" "Beautiful, gorgeous," he says, "The people are very friendly. There were three options," he says, "Washington, Utah, here in Massachusetts, whatever was available. The plane left and brought us here."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That was CNN's Miguel Marquez you were just hearing from who joins us now live from Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard. Miguel, what are you seeing and hearing this morning?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, they're getting up. This is their second night here. And I guess the bottom line is that all 50 that arrived here are well cared for. There were seven families, four kids between three and eight years old. They are getting settled into life here at least for now. The question now is, where do they go from here?

Lawyers who met with many, even all these migrants for a long time yesterday said that they were misled. And that's the same information that we are hearing from the many that we have spoken to as well, between myself and Maria Santana with CNN Espanol, we've talked to over a dozen migrants here on Martha's Vineyard yesterday. And they said the same thing, that they were in San Antonio, at a shelter there. They were approached by somebody who said we can give you an opportunity, we can give you jobs, we can give you help. If you want, come with us. They were then taken to a different location, a hotel, a private hotel where they stayed for several days. They were then put on place, and all 50 of them, all Venezuelans, all from Texas, or they were in Texas, were then brought here. The plane stopped a couple of times along the way. No one got off, no one got on. And then they landed here. They had no idea where they were going. Some of thought they were going to Boston, then they ended up here.

They're very grateful to be here. They're very happy to be here. They feel very safe here. But they have asylum cases as far away as Los Angeles and Cincinnati and back in Texas that they have to attend to in the next month or to, and all of that is now being considered by officials here, and whether they will probably move off the island in the next day or two. Most, in not all of the immigrants here maybe on to Massachusetts, maybe on to other places they'd like to go to. A big Venezuelan population in New York city and in Miami. So those are places that many have talked about going to. Back to you guys.

BERMAN: Miguel Marquez on the ground there in Martha's Vineyard. Thanks so much for being there and doing their reporting.

MARQUEZ: You got it.

KEILAR: Joining us now is Chris Wallace, CNN anchor and host of "Who's Talking to Chris Wallace." It's so great to have you here this morning, Chris. What do you think watching this go on in Martha's Vineyard?

CHRIS WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: I think there are two sides to this story. I can certainly understand people who are upset and say that these immigrants are being used, in many cases, kids, children, as political pawns being sent up from Mexico or Florida on planes, sometimes not even knowing where they're going to be dropped off at Martha's Vineyard or dropped off at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue across from the Vice President's residence.

On the other hand, if you're the governor of Texas or of Florida, you're saying we have been forced to deal with this ourselves, alone, all this time, and this should be a national problem, not a red state problem. So we're going to make everybody fool and the pain or the discomfort of having to deal with this flood of immigrants coming across the border.

[08:05:00]

And the fact is, we've been covering it as the lead story every hour all morning. So to a degree, you may not like the tactics of DeSantis or Abbott, but they've accomplished their mission, which is to make this a national problem, not just a problem in their state.

BERMAN: At least put it in a national focus to make sure it something that people are focused on or talking about to be sure. We are in the midst now of the general election battle for the midterm elections, which means there's a pivot. There's a pivot from the primaries for many candidates from the primaries where you're going for your party's nomination to a general election when you want to attract independent and cross-party voters. But there are pivots, and then there's this, Chris. This is Don Bolduc. He is now the Republican nominee for Senate in New Hampshire. And I want to show you the difference before and after, what he said about the 2020 election before and whether or not he thought it was stolen, and now. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIG. GEN. DON BOLDUC (RET), U.S. ARMY: I signed a letter with 120 other generals and admirals saying that Trump won the election, and damn it, I stand by my words.

From every party, and I have come to the conclusion, and I want to be definitive on this. The election was not stolen. Was there fraud? Yes. President Biden is the legitimate president of this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Wow. That's some difference, Chris. WALLACE: You could get whiplash from that pivot, there's no question, John. And you're seeing this in a number of states where people, Republicans ran on the hard right talking about their hardline positions on abortion, their hardline positions on the 2020 election. Now that they have won their primaries and secured their base, they're trying to move to the center.

On the other hand, I've got to say, I'm a one hand, other hand kind of person today, you've also had these Democrats who were talking about the clear threat from MAGA, and yet in many cases during the primaries, Democratic candidates and Democrats Party organizations were putting out ads in effect boosting the harder right candidate because they think it will be easier in the general election. You saw that in New Hampshire, for instance, with the Democrats seeming to help Bolduc over his more moderate opponent Morse, and in a number of other states. So hypocrisy reigns on all sides when it comes to politics.

KEILAR: Yes, and that was so unappetizing to some Democrats that they were mad that their own political apparatus was doing that. This thing that we're seeing, this sort of move that we're seeing Bolduc make --

WALLACE: Right.

KEILAR: -- it's not just him, right? So I think it's really interest to talk about, is this going to work? Can he do, or does he end up shedding people on the right and not gaining moderates, or do you think he can actually broaden his base of support?

WALLACE: We'll see. It's a perfectly good question, and nobody has a real answer, but you're seeing in a number of other states. This is one of the more egregious examples. But for instance, Blake Masters in Arizona, who was taking a hardline position on abortion, has started scrubbing his website as those, as if we couldn't -- there weren't screen grabs where you could see he was opposed to abortion in almost all cases beforehand.

It is something that politicians do. I've seen it in the 30, 40 years I've been covering politics. You secure your base in the primaries and then you try to move to the center because that's where elections are won. Whether it will convince people who maybe haven't been paying attention in the center or whether it's going to turn off people on right, who are going to say, wait a minute, you told me that Trump had the election stolen, now Biden won it legitimately, we'll have to wait and see.

KEILAR: Some issues are easier to do this on than others. And we'll see about this one.

BERMAN: So Chris, the former president did an interview with Hugh Hewitt the other day, actually yesterday, and was talking into the investigation into the documents at Mar-a-Lago. And Hugh asked Donald Trump what would happen if he faced charges for the possession of those documents. Listen to his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I think if it happened, I think you'd have problems in this country the likes of which perhaps we'd never seen before. I don't think the people of the United States would stand for it.

HUGH HEWITT, SYNDICATED RADIO HOST: What kind of problems, My. President?

TRUMP: I think they'd have big problems, big problems. I just don't think they'd stand for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So what's he saying there? What are you hearing?

WALLACE: Well, look, in the aftermath of January 6th, you obviously have to raise the question, certainly, at least, he didn't say it explicitly, but it does raise the possibility of violent protests, and that is a concern. The world changed after January 6th, and Donald Trump's words and the what -- it doesn't matter what I hear. It's what his followers hear. And clearly what they hear is a call to arms in many cases. So that is a reason for concern.

[08:10:02]

KEILAR: Yes, and we'll be watching that. Chris, it's great to have you this morning. Thank you so much for being with us.

WALLACE: Thank you. Always a pleasure.

KEILAR: T minus nine days until the launch.

(LAUGHTER)

WALLACE: You know what I think you should have in the corner? Maybe a little countdown.

KEILAR: But there's two of you. Yes, we need a countdown clock.

WALLACE: That's formal press and informal press.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: Where's flip flop beach, Chris? We need one of those maybe in the middle.

WALLACE: I'd like to see John Berman in his informal clothes.

BERMAN: I have very nice legs.

KEILAR: Instagram.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: That's all you need to know.

WALLACE: Very nice legs?

BERMAN: Very nice legs.

WALLACE: I'll never be able to unsee that.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: All right, T minus nine days and no problems with Chris's fuel lines before launch. Thank you very much, Chris.

Ukrainian soldiers have discovered at least 440 bodies in unmarked graves in the eastern city of Izyum, which Ukraine recently recaptured from Russian forces. Ukraine's defense ministry released these photos showing numerous wooden cross scattered across the forest and a large pit dug into the forest floor. One official said the graves were, quote, fresh, adding that the corpses buried there were mostly civilians. The causes of death and the circumstances around the burials not clear. Ukraine's President Zelenskyy vowed to hold Russia accountable for the deaths and for similar mass grave sites across Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We want the world to know what is really happening and what the Russian occupation has led to in Bucha, Mariupol, and now, unfortunately, Izyum. Russia is leaving death behind everywhere and must be held responsible. The world must bring Russia to real responsibility for this war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Zelenskyy said he is inviting journalists to Izyum today to see what was uncovered.

KEILAR: Vladimir Putin admits China has questions and concerns about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. An unexpected revelation came during Putin and Xi Jinping's first meeting since the war began. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We highly appreciate the balanced position of our Chinese friends in connection with the Ukrainian crisis. We understand your questions and concerns in this regard. During today's meeting, of course, we will explain in detail our position on this issue, although we have spoken about this before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And joining me now is the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. She is the author of "Lessons from the Edge, a Memoir." And as you'll recall, she testified during Former President Trump's first impeachment inquiry after she was targeted by Trump and his allies for opposing his political agenda on Ukraine. Ambassador, thank you so much for being with us. You hear Putin admitting to China's concerns, but Xi didn't even mention Ukraine in his remarks. How are you seeing this?

MARIE YOVANOVITCH, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: Well, I think it's evidence of Russia's increasing isolation in the world community where back in February you'll recall the two leaders met and they talked about a partnership without limits. And now, over the months, we've seen that China has not provided the kind of support that I think Russia was hoping for, whether they fund the military side, whether it's on sanctions busting, other kinds of political support as well. And now they have a summit where President Putin is openly admitting that China has questions.

BERMAN: Yes, support without limits now appears to have some limits, admitted limits by at least Vladimir Putin there. It would be interesting to know what actually happened behind closed doors.

Ambassador, I understand you were in Kyiv just last week. What a time to be there given the events that we've all seen unfold so rapidly in the east with the Ukrainians retaking territory the Russians had held for months. What's your take on how this happened and what it portends?

YOVANOVITCH: Yes, so if I could just say a word about being in Kyiv, which it was really inspiring. The Ukrainians are courageous, they are committed, and they are confident. They are confident that they will prevail in this fight with Russia. And all of that was before the good news from Herkivaria (ph), from Luhansk was pouring in, and then it was at least for someone like me, it was downright exhilarating to be there and actually be able to meet with people and see friends and colleagues. It was really wonderful.

I mean, going -- how did Ukraine, how did Ukraine do this? I think it's the result of years of training by the U.S. and other western partners. I think it's, again, the courage of the Ukrainian troops. I think it's good planning and the ability to use deception with the Russian military so that the Russian military moved most of its forces down to the south, to the Kherson area. And the Russians were just completely taken by surprise.

[08:15:06]

And the Ukrainians have already said that the really incredible gains that they've made over the last week or so were probably slowed down because they've lost some of that element of surprise. But I think they are continuing to press forward and I think we're going to continue to see success on the part of Ukrainians.

And I should also add, I mean, this is a Ukrainian victory, but U.S. and western military assistance, in terms of the equipment we've provided, including the HIMARS, crucially, is also, I think, something that has been a game changer, really, in Ukraine.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: There is some CNN reporting about how domestically here in the U.S., there are even Democrats who are frustrated that economic sanctions against Russia have not brought Russia to its knees, have not affected Russia negatively in a way that they were hoping and that the assessment right now is that you're looking all the way into the beginning or few months into next year before they might really feel the pain. Is the Ukrainian military being -- are they going to be able to hold on until then? Will European allies be able to hang together until then?

YOVANOVITCH: Yes. So, I think one of the most important things is the unity of allies and partners in supporting Ukraine. And so, crucially, what we need do is to provide the Ukrainians everything that they need, not only to hold but to win. And so that includes more of the long-range systems that we've been talking about, it includes air defense systems.

Because what we've seen is that when Russia attacks not only the Ukrainian military, it attacks Ukrainian civilians. And over the weekend, when they were so badly routed, what did they do? They bombed a dam in the south, they bombed -- they attacked infrastructure on gas and electricity in the north. I mean, it's just appalling. So, the air defense systems are absolutely crucial.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You have live through many Ukrainian winters, certainly several Ukrainian winters. What are why are concerns heading to the winter months as this conflict wears on?

YOVANOVITCH: Well, you know that old saying of winter is coming and it's going to be a cold one. So, I guess my hope is that Mother Nature will help us out here. But it is obviously a concern. Will Ukrainians have enough electricity to power some of the heating systems? Will they have enough gas in order to keep people warm?

And then, of course, I think one of the things that we don't realize is that with the taking of Zaporizhzhia, the nuclear power plant down in the south, that has been the focus of so much -- understandably so much concern. But that being said, 25 percent of Ukrainian electricity has been taken off the grid. So, there are going to be multiple issues in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian people, though, I mean they are committed. They are ready to do whatever it takes. They will endure and they will keep on moving forward. I mean, again, I use this word a lot but it's the right one. I mean, it's inspirational to talk Ukrainians to see what they are doing now.

The other thing is making sure that ally and partner unity prevails. Because, clearly, in European countries, some are also facing what could be a cold winter. Is it going to be -- will that unity prevail? I mean, what I'm seeing now is that the Europeans are absolutely committed. And so I'm hoping that we can get through the worst of the winter with increased gas supplies to our partners and friends.

KEILAR: Yes, these coming months will certainly be a test.

Former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, we thank you for your time.

YOVANOVITCH: Thank you.

KEILAR: Coming up, sex after COVID. Why health officials in the U.S. are sounding the alarm over a trend we'll tell you about. And Chrissy Teigen revealing that the miscarriage she said she had two years ago was actually an abortion. Why she's coming forward now.

BERMAN: And we're going to live to London, where the line is nearly five miles long and at least a 14-hour wait to final respects to the queen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:20:00]

KEILAR: In London, tens of thousands of people are standing in a line that is stretching nearly five miles with a 14-hour wait. They're there to pay their final respects to the queen who is lying in state at Westminster Hall. Entry to this line has actually just been paused because it is at capacity.

King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla greeted with a 21-gun salute in Wales here just moments ago, marking their final stop on their official tour of the United Kingdom.

CNN's Nada Bashir is live for us in London, Nina Dos Santos is in Cardiff, Wales.

Nina, first to you there, set the scene.

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN EUROPE EDITOR: Yes. It's a jubilant scene here outside Cardiff Castley, which is where you heard those 21 gun salutes about two hours ago, heralding the return of no longer the prince of Wales but the king of this nation inside the United Kingdom. Remember that he's been to visit all four corners of his country now and his realm and they have devolved powers. That means they have their own parliaments, and in some cases, they have their own separatist nationalist movements.

And that's particularly the case here in Wales, where we have a nationalist party that is in government, in the senate, in the parliament here, which is where the monarch currently is, meeting dignitaries with Queen Camilla, his consort.

But Wales has a particularly sensitive role in British monarchical history too, because you will know that it provides the title for heir to the British throne.

[08:25:05]

And the prince of Wales, King Charles, was the longest prince of Wales that Wales and the U.K. has ever seen. He's now bequeathed that title over to his son, Prince William.

Among this crowd, there's a lot of people waving Welsh nationalist flags, demonstrators here over my right shoulder, who are preparing to protest when the monarch arrives in about 15 minutes times to say that they don't believe that Wales needs a prince anymore. But overwhelmingly, as you can hear here, those cheers from the crowrds, they have their Welsh flags and where we're expecting the monarch to come imminently in a minutes time. Brianna?

BERMAN: And, Nada, you're outside of Westminster Hall where these lines are now just hours and hours and hours and hours, five miles long. And I guess they're not allowing anymore people in the line now, are they?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely, John. They have advised anybody who had hoped to come and join this queue to hold on for now. They are recommending that nobody else comes to joy because it is simply so long. And at the very end of this queue at this park, the park has actually reached capacity. So, it is on pause for the time being. They have told people that they will update them once they are able to rejoin that queue.

But we were here a little earlier this morning, and I have to say, it was simply remarkable to see just how many people have queued overnight to have their chance to pay their respects to that queen. That wait time was run 14 hours long. And we were speaking to people here who have been waiting since around 9:00 P.M. last night. Not only people from London, but I'd say people who have come up and down the country. We even spoke to two women who traveled especially for this, all the way from Brazil. So, this is a moment of history, many people across the globe wanting to pay their respects, and also wanting to be a part of this historic moment.

And as you can see behind me, they do still have a long way to go from here to get all the way down across the river to the palace of Westminster behind, where the queen is lying in state. And, of course, this evening, some will also have a chance to pass by their new monarch, King Charles III.

BERMAN: They will be standing by.

Nina Dos Santos, Nada Bashir, thank you both so much for being with us.

KEILAR: A new call for the owner of the Phoenix Suns to resign over his use of racist slurs, this time from the team's own vice chairman.

BERMAN: And the FDA sounding the alarm on nicotine gummies, calling them a public health crisis just waiting to happen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:00]